songbird wrote:


in order to get it going in an established
field or grassy area you'll need to disturb
the soil enough that it can get going, it is
not a fast grower at first, i often plant it
as a mix with other cover plants (golden flax
is pretty, buckwheat is a great cover crop and
the bees love both of them when they are left to
bloom). i'd avoid red clover in the mix.

Agreed on the red clover, it didn't do well.

I've taken to putting alfalfa seed down each time
a weed is dug up. The issue of how well the alfalfa
is doing got a little confusing lately. Trefoil plants
that looked like alfalfa but had yellow flowers began
to appear in numbers in the yard, and I declared success.
Then, some pot-grown alfalfa (whose identity is much more
certain) revealed purple flowers. No purple flowers yet
in the lawn. I'm not sure what the story is at present.
Maybe it'll bloom later, maybe it all got eaten.
Snails, slugs and sowbugs seem to be major problems. I'm
trying to avoid chemical warfare, mostly for sake of the
earthworms. Principles of sustainable horticulture might
have to be sacrificed on the alter of expediency.

8-)

Thanks for reading,

bob prohaska